Experiences with faculty early retirement programs at three public universities are described. The universities range in size from 11,000 to 33,000 full-time equivalent students with 650 to more than 3,000 faculty members. Attention is directed to: goals of each of the institutions in establishing the program, characteristics of individual programs, the number of faculty who have taken the early retirement option, and perceived strengths and weaknesses of the program. Initiatives for the three retirement incentive plans differed: one came from a joint faculty and administrative committee, the second was created and developed by administrators, and the third was developed by faculty members. Goals of the program for two of the universities were to reallocate resources. One school encouraged early retirements in overstaffed departments so that faculty positions could be moved to understaffed departments. The other school sought to reallocate institutional resources by guaranteeing part-time reemployment to any faculty member electing early retirement. The goal of the third university was to provide for a renewal of the professoriate while reducing the total number of faculty at the institution. The questionnaire used to collect the information on the programs is appended. (SW)